Bruce Arena Is Back As USMNT Head Coach

"Today we made the hard decision of parting ways with Jürgen Klinsmann, our head coach of the U.S. Men's National Team and Technical Director", U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati said in a statement.

Arena, a five-times Major League Soccer champion coach who is taking over for the recently fired Juergen Klinsmann, is no stranger to the US national team having been at the helm from 1998-2006.

US Soccer president Sunil Gulati made clear his stance that Arena is not here as a memory of his former tenure, but as a new manager ready to help this squad achieve its goals. "He's got far more experience than he did when he had the national team the first go-around and has proven ... many times and at all levels that that he is an extraordinarily capable and successful coach". In his first stint as US coach, he inherited a program that had lost three straight games in the 1998 World Cup and took it to the tournament quarterfinals four years later.

United States Soccer has announced that Bruce Arena will return as head coach of the men's football team a decade after he left the job.

"I've understood better how they work and how to grow a team".

"There are no real secrets on how you build good teams: It takes a lot of hard work, it takes communication, it takes discipline and it takes some talent, and I think we have enough talent to build a good team and end up in Russian Federation 2018".

"I don't view this as Bruce 2, but (instead) Bruce 2.0", Gulati said. "You own that team", he said. We'll have a tremendous 2017, and then hopefully a tremendous World Cup in Russian Federation. He was the coach who gave me my first opportunities with the national team, and he and I have always maintained a little bit of a relationship from afar.

It was the nation's worst loss in a World Cup qualifier since 1957 as the States dropped to the bottom of the Hexagonal, having lost 2-1 at home to rivals Mexico four days earlier. Will Arena look to MLS for reinforcements? The 65-year-old Arena starts work December 1.

Arena has coached a record five MLS Cup champions, guiding the Galaxy to crowns in 2011, 2012 and 2014 after taking the title with D.C. United in 1996 and 1997.

US soccer's best hope, at least for the foreseeable future, remains the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Team USA's run to the quarterfinals in 2002 represents its best showing at a modern World Cup.

Arena coached the national team to a 71-30-29 record from 1998 to 2006.

While Klinsmann was noticeably more proactive in recruiting players like Julian Green and Gedion Zelalem than his predecessors, Klinsmann's national team rosters were almost in line with Arena's in terms of foreign-born players. I just want to make sure their heart is in the right place.